Owner of Staten Island title insurance companies accused of bilking clients of $1.7M

The owner of several Staten Island-based title insurance companies bilked clients, including a Queens church, out of more than $1.7 million, federal prosecutors allege.

Jonathan Boxman, 46, of Freehold, N.J., ran Titledge Insurance Company of New York, Titledge of New Jersey and Integrity Title Agency, all based at 654 Sharrotts Rd. in Charleston, court papers said.

Prosecutors contend he stole fees and taxes designated for real-estate closings, which resulted in several mortgages and deeds going unrecorded.

Prosecutors and court papers did not state the number of victims or say how many were Staten Islanders. However, Boxman allegedly fleeced one victim, the Faith Assembly Church in Queens, of more than $384,000.

The crimes occurred between 2006 and 2008, officials said.

Boxman surrendered this morning to FBI agents and was hauled into Brooklyn federal court on wire-fraud charges. He did not enter a plea at his arraignment and was released on a $1 million bond his wife secured on their house, prosecutors said.

Boxman potentially faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

"The complaint charges that the defendant placed his own financial interests above those who entrusted their money to him in connection with real-estate transactions," said Benton J. Campbell, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. "He will now be held to account for his actions."

The Advance is trying to reach Boxman's lawyer for comment.

According to court papers, Boxman's companies acted as settlement or escrow agents in real-estate deals. They received checks to pay various fees and taxes associated with closings and also held escrow funds for liens or other mortgage conditions.

Instead of paying the required fees and safe-keeping the escrow money, the defendant transferred the cash into accounts for his businesses, court papers said. Those accounts were held at a New Jersey bank.

Boxman paid his companies' operating expenses with the filched funds and also used them to cover prior thefts, prosecutors allege.

As a result of the scheme, an undisclosed number of deeds and mortgages weren't recorded at the appropriate county clerk's office, court papers said.

Without a deed, a person can't sell or refinance a house and new judgments can be attached to a property. Homeowners might not even know their title is missing until they attempt another transaction. Lenders are at risk for fraud if mortgages aren't recorded.

On Wednesday, a former South Beach couple was accused by Staten Island prosecutors of undertaking a similar title-insurance scam between 2002 and 2004.